When The Sun Goes Down
by HogwartsApprentice
Summary: Snotlout knew Ruffnut would fall for him eventually. He just didn't think it would involve this much pain or humiliation.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I don't really know where this idea for this story came from… I guess I just felt like writing. My beta Hermione'sDaughter was away for a while so this was posted a bit later than planned. Hope you enjoy xD**

 **This is set after the first movie but before the second. The teens are all about 16 in this fic.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or plot lines of the HTTYD movies or books.**

* * *

"Hiccup!" Snotlout hissed at his childhood enemy, "You gotta help me. I think Ruffnut's after me." He had been busy dodging the obsessed girl since lunch. At first, the flirting had been quite nice. Someone had, for once, been paying him the respect he deserved. Then Ruffnut began to get on his nerves. While he usually wouldn't mind someone complimenting him on his every move once in a while, _this was really beginning to annoy him._ Who comments on his _walking style_? She asked him to go for a walk in the forest with him after that comment, and he could've sworn she was starting to drool as she said this. _And_ there was no escape from her. Seriously, this girl knew _exactly_ where he was at all times. There was just no escape.

That's when he decided to go to _Hiccup_ , of all people, for help. Why Hiccup? Because he went fifteen years without any girl being interested in him. He knew his stuff.

" _Please_ , Hiccup. Ruffnut's been flirting with me _all day_. I mean, usually there's nothing wrong with that, but -" he cut his sentence short as he heard a noise he had been dreading to hear. He ducked behind the bench at the forge where Hiccup was working. "Don't tell her I'm here!" he begged, his usually loud and obnoxious voice now a hardly audible whisper.

"A-ah. Um. OK." Hiccup managed to get out, now completely confused by the situation.

"Oh Snotty-poo! Where are you? We were gonna go for a walk in the forest, remember? _Alone._ " Ruffnut was attracting all sorts of odd looks from the baffled Vikings, though she seemed oblivious to the fact. "Hey! Hiccup! Have you seen my Snotty-poo?"

"Um…" Hiccup was torn between letting his childhood enemy suffer and helping him out. The former would be more amusing, he knew, but his conscience got the better of him. "Actually, yes Ruffnut. I think he went to the Great Hall a while ago. You might catch him there if you hurry." With a quick nod of her head, the crazed girl sprinted off in search of her prey, and Hiccup turned to Snotlout who was still cowering under the workbench. "OK, now what was that about?"

"I told you Hiccup, she's after me. Like every girl, she must have fallen for my epic strength and amazing looks."

Hiccup resisted rolling his eyes at that comment. _'I'm not quite sure that's it.'_ He thought. ' _But then again, this_ is _Ruffnut we're talking about here. Who knows what goes on in her head?'_ "So?" he asked. "Why did you come to me for help?"

"Well, you're um, _you_. No girl in her right mind would come _near_ you for fifteen years. How'd you manage that?"

"Thank you for summing that up," he deadpanned, this time unable to resist rolling his eyes at Snotlout's utter lack of tact. "I dunno. I just screwed up again and again, I guess."

Snotlout was out of there before he could finish his sentence. Hiccup grinned. If Snotlout was about to do what he thought he was – and by that he meant screw up big time, then this was going to be _so good_.

* * *

"Do I still have to do this? He's really getting on my nerves." Instead of finding Snotlout in the Great Hall as Hiccup had said she might, Ruffnut found someone who shared practically her whole name: Tuffnut.

"If I recall correctly, _you_ tipped fewer yaks. You lost the bet, so yes, you do," Tuffnut said smugly, "for the _rest of the day._ "

Ruffnut groaned but was not ready to give up yet. "Fine, but I'm out of material. I already suggested a walk in the forest while doing that creepy face you told me to use, and I talked to him all morning using that nickname, which I admit was actually kinda fun. I need ideas."

"You, _sister_ , are trying to get out of the dare. _Aren't you?_ "

Ruffnut should have known it wouldn't work. "Ergh. _Fine._ I'll keep flirting. But this ends the second the sun goes down."

* * *

Hiccup didn't feel the slightest bit guilty as he saw Snotlout face-plant onto the stairs in front of a majority of the village who were gathered down at the docks to welcome Trader Johann. He had to resist laughing out loud as Ruffnut, who had been clinging to Snotlout's arm like a limpet let go of him the second he started falling.

"Oh _Snotty-poo!_ Are you all right?" she cried. Instead of the desired effect of Ruffnut believing Snotlout too uncoordinated to be attracted to, it did the opposite. Now she seemed to believe that Snotlout needed help doing everything.

Hiccup could no longer hold back his laughter as he saw Ruffnut grasp Snotlout firmly by his arm and guide him onto the trader's boat, the way one might lead a blind or particularly stupid person. He ran back to the village as fast as a one-legged Viking could. _He really needed to get his laughter under control._

Finally Hiccup reached the village where he was confident he could laugh his head off without attracting odd looks from surrounding people, as there were none.

 _Or are there?_ He thought as he heard a voice cackling uncontrollably behind the forge. Instantly he attempted to sober and went to investigate, wondering why anyone was still in the village. Even Gothi had left to see what Trader Johann had brought as she was out of some herbs that only grew on the farthest island of the archipelago from Berk, where none of the Riders had been for several months.

"Tuffnut? What are you doing here?" His laughter now completely under control, he was now worried; if Tuffnut was laughing, it usually meant something bad for the rest of the village.

"Oh Hiccup. Have you seen them? It's wonderful!" he said as he pretended to wipe a tear away from his eye. "They're the _perfect_ couple, don't you think? Snotlout and Ruffnut. Who'd a thought?"

Hiccup grinned as he realised what Tuffnut was saying. "You dared Ruffnut to do this, didn't you?" Why else would Tuffnut be so happy his sister found someone she liked?

"Well, my friend. It depends on what you classify as a _dare_. I would say that this is more of a _she-lost-a-bet-and-therefore-must-flirt-with-Snotlout-all-day_ situation. But yes, you may call it a dare."

"Well that clarifies things," Hiccup said, "Well, as long as no one dies as a consequence of this, go ahead, I'm not going to stop you. It's about time Snotlout was put in his place." With that Hiccup decided to leave the twins and Snotlout to their own business while he went to see if Johann had brought him the promised ink from a giant squid. _'After all,'_ he reasoned, ' _What's the worst that can happen?'_

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 **A/N Thanks for reading everyone! Feel free to review to tell me where you think I should go with this (it will be continued) and to tell me if you enjoyed/hated it :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or plot lines of the HTTYD movies or books.**

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Having received his promised ink, wrestled from a giant squid by Trader Johann himself, Hiccup made his way through the village, making sure to keep an eye on the time bomb just waiting to explode that was Snotlout and Ruffnut. Apart from seeing Snotlout becoming more and more uncoordinated as time went on, there was nothing too alarming going on. It was now mid-afternoon, and Hiccup had overheard Tuffnut telling Gustav in the Dragon Arena that Ruffnut was only forced to flirt with Snotlout until sundown, so he wasn't to interfere. Tuffnut told him that he had made Ruffnut wait until this day to flirt with Snotlout because of celebrations of Bork week that would begin late afternoon, giving her plenty of opportunity to annoy him. Snotlout, of course, didn't know this and probably feared that this new development in Ruffnut's behaviour towards him was permanent.

Almost tempted to jump in and stop the madness because of that, Hiccup hesitated as he saw Snotlout trying to wave Ruffnut, who was trying to make him go with her to the celebrations, off in the village square, telling her that he just wasn't interested, before promptly walking into a pole next to the forge that was in plain view, right in front of him. _Serves you right, Snotlout,_ he thought with a smile, all thoughts of telling Ruffnut to give him a break gone. _How do you think Astrid's felt all these years with you flirting with her?_ At that thought, Hiccup remembered his agreed rendezvous with Astrid and Fishlegs in the arena to discuss Fishlegs' new idea about the book of Dragons.

* * *

Snotlout, meanwhile, was most certainly _not_ having a good day. Ruffnut had reached a point that was beyond annoying. Hiccup had told him to mess up, and so he had. Badly. His fall count for the hour was already seven, but still Ruffnut wouldn't stop.

But he was free now, at least for the moment, having muttered an excuse and then quite literally sprinted away from Ruffnut and towards Hookfang, who had seen his obvious distress and was for once cooperative.

And so, as he flew away from Berk as fast as he could, Snotlout pondered for the millionth time how he could get rid of Ruffnut. Hiccup's tactic wasn't working, and he only had a few hours before the celebrations that he was expected to be at to figure out a new one before he had to head back to Berk.

Telling Ruffnut he simply wasn't interested wouldn't work – he had already tried that multiple times. He could ignore her, but he doubted that would be any more successful than telling her.

It was time to take drastic measures.

* * *

Snotlout found himself, once again, in the presence of Ruffnut. He hoped this plan was going to work – constantly acting uncoordinated was beginning to ruin his reputation, but even _that_ was going to look like nothing after this.

"Erm… Ruffnut… there's something you should know before, ya know… anything becomes official or anything." He hated himself for sounding like there was a chance at anything between them, for letting her hopes raise when there was nothing to hope for. Even _he_ wasn't completely heartless (though he'd never admit that, especially as hearts were for _girls_ ).

They were in the village square, and being mid-afternoon and the time some people began to return from their fishing trips or other jobs around Berk to prepare for the celebrations, it was quite busy.

"Yeah Snotty-poo? What is it?" Ruffnut seemed unconcerned.

 _Well, she might be more concerned once she hears this._

"Well… I'm not quite sure how to say this…" Snotlout said, turning away and covering his mouth with his hand as if to hide a yawn but instead blowing a raspberry onto his palm, making a horrible sound as if he farted. "Um, ya see, erm… There's this thing I've had for a while **…** I have this problem where _I really gotta go_. A _lot_."

And with that Snotlout bolted in the direction of the outhouse, hoping Ruffnut would fall for this façade.

* * *

Snotlout had hidden in his outhouse for over an hour before Ruffnut came knocking.

"Snotty-poo? Are you in there? Are you okay? I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to the square? It's nearly dark, and you should join in. Everyone's there." She said, her voice sounding strained, almost as if she _really_ didn't want to be there. Snotlout felt a ray of hope as he heard this. Maybe one more humiliation on his part would do it.

He blew a loud raspberry onto the palm of his hand again and called out to her, "Just a minute Ruffnut, I'm a little… busy… at the moment. Why don't you go ahead?"

Ruffnut didn't say anything, but Snotlout could hear her trudging away towards the square.

Snotlout almost felt bad about the way he had treated her, but she wouldn't give up any other way.

And so Snotlout walked to the square alone in the near dark. When he reached it, Ruffnut and Tuffnut seemed to be arguing about something as they walked towards the hall where most of Berk had gathered.

"… But it's practically dark already! Do I still have to?"

"We've gone through this already, dear sister. You lost. You have to keep going. Until the sun goes down. _Completely_."

Snotlout could see the annoyance on Ruffnut's face as she took in this information. Whatever she had to do for – he glanced at the rapidly sinking sun before he entered the hall – the next ten or twenty minutes, she wasn't impressed.

He grabbed a plate of food and sat down at one of the tables at the end of the hall, away from the celebrating Vikings. Ruffnut made her way over to him and he inwardly cursed. _At least,_ he thought grimly, _Ruffnut doesn't judge people very easily._

"Look, Snotlout, I want to be more than friends with you just about as much as Hiccup hates Toothless," she said, all business like and nothing like the earlier, flirting her. Snotlout was taken aback. While he was quite happy she didn't seem to be trying to flirt anymore, he was quite surprised. Apparently, she _did_ judge people.

"Nor did I ever. But the idiot over there," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Tuffnut, "made me flirt with you all day. I have to do it until sunset, which is about ten minutes, so I thought I'd tell you anyway."

Snotlout was quite surprised at this news. Not only had Ruffnut claimed to not even like him the slightest bit (which was, of course, a first with any girl), but she was also incredibly good at acting, something Vikings of Berk were not renowned for, because of _course_ she liked him, even if she was acting on Tuffnut's orders.

"What?" He asked, not too politely, "But – all day – that was Tuffnut trying to annoy me?"

Ruffnut nodded. "And me. He wants revenge from when he lost a bet and I made him flirt with Meatlug for a day." Snotlout was actually quite offended by this comment. Apparently the Tuffnut saw him as a worse potential partner than _Meatlug_ , of all possibilities. Obviously, he reasoned, he was insane.

"Well, never mind about that," he said hurriedly, wanting to see if Ruffnut would agree with him about Tuffnut needing punishment for what he did. "So, I assume you're gonna want revenge on him for his revenge on you?" he said this slowly, figuring it out in his head. Ruffnut nodded. "Well then," Snotlout said, "I think I have an idea."

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 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. There will probably be one or two more after this… hopefully up sooner than this one was. As ever thanks to Hermione'sDaughter who was responsible for beta-ing this chapter.**


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